Ambush
by Alex Kade
Summary: Clay's team is in Denver on a mission and gets some surprise help from an old friend of Cougar's. *crosses with ATF AU*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Okay, so most of you who know me have probably already been following this, but Aislinn (my beta and cowriter, and the one who came up with this wonderful idea) and I thought we should represent in The Losers fandom as well. For you newbs, this is a crossover fic between Losers and the ATF universe of The Magnificent Seven based on the characters from the M7 show. This first chapter was supposed to be just a one-shot, but we had so many requests to continue the story that we went ahead and gave the masses what they wanted. :)

If there are any errors in the Losers side of things, you can go ahead and blame me for those. I'm writing for Clay's team and take full responsibility. Aislinn Graves wrote for the Team 7 boys, so yell at her if you don't like it! (But don't forget to praise us if you _do _like what we've done! That's much better than the yelling and the finger pointing and the crying that comes after that...lol)

If any of you are checking this out who are new to the M7 boys and are interested in learning more about them, please don't hesitate to ask! I can answer any questions and point you in the right directions to become more familiar with the boys. (Mag 7 remains my favorite show to this day, btw, even though it's like twelve years old!)

* * *

Ambush

By Aislinn And Alex Kade

March 2011

Vin squatted down balancing on his toes and stared off into the distance. The view was wonderful from up here and he couldn't help but admire the care it had taken to find such efficient lines of sight. That task wasn't easy in an urban setting, and while buildings offered a marvelous perch they also tended to get in the way. He glanced over and wondered if the other man had even noted his approach. He snickered softly; somehow he doubted it. They hadn't called him Soft Foot for nothing. "You wouldn't be thinking of shooting someone in my town now would ya, Cougar?"

Other than a slight twitch Cougar didn't react to the fact that Vin had gotten the drop on him. He didn't even lift his eye from his scope but Vin could see the slight smile that graced the sniper's lips. "Maybe."

Vin grinned at his friend's honesty. Soundlessly he slid down to his stomach, setting up his own rifle to match the angle of the one beside him. Looking through the scope, he adjusted his view until it landed upon the focus of his friend's unwavering eye. There in the impound yard stood a young man with blond, spiky hair, talking in a highly animated fashion to two burly fellows. The fact that they were both scowling at him and probably outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds each didn't seem to bother the man in the slightest.

"That one yours?" Vin asked, not needing to specify to which man he was referring to.

Cougar merely nodded slightly.

"Kinda cocky, ain't he?" Vin said as he watched the man laugh and place an overly friendly hand on one of the big guy's arm.

Cougar shrugged one shoulder.

Vin smirked as the blond finally noticed the glare he was receiving and promptly removed the offending hand. Whatever words came out of that fast mouth next made Cougar snort and the two large men take a step closer to the younger one. The anger on their faces had deepened two-fold.

"He gonna get himself killed?" Vin asked, shooting the quickest of glances over to his friend before returning his focus on the scene playing out before him.

"Probably," Cougar grinned.

Vin turned his attention back to the impound yard. The blond had backpedaled his hands held out in front of him. Vin could see that he continued talking and finally the two goons stopped moving forward and the anger on their faces smoothed into amusement. Whatever the kid was saying was working. Vin recognized some of the body language as the same that Ezra employed when he worked undercover. Body language that said, "You can trust me". He smiled as the man skillfully took control of the situation. After a few minutes of talk the three shook hands and the blond watched the two goons get in their car and drive away. Then he turned and stared up at the building the two snipers rested on and gave a tiny salute. He quickly made his way over to his own vehicle and left.

Cougar sat up and disassembled his rifle and stowed it in a case. He glanced over at Vin who watched him with a grin of understanding. He grinned back and nodded. "Thanks."

Vin smiled. "No problem. Have a good visit and Cougar… try not to kill anybody while yer here. I'd hate to have to take ya in."

Cougar nodded once in understanding and slipped thorough the door that led to the stairs down.

Vin set up his own sniper post and settled in to watch over his own team. He snickered as Ezra's Spider drove into the same impound lot and parked in the same spot that had just been occupied by another man. He switched on his com unit and reported in. "Falcon in place."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **And a little taste of the story round two...This one's all Aislinn. :)

* * *

Vin stretched out, feet on his desk, head resting on the back of his chair. He idly played with his pen looking to the world the picture of a man with nothing to do, but his mind was working furiously. He glanced at the computer screen again. The service records still said the same thing… Sgt. Carlos 'Cougar' Alvarez: Deceased, killed along with the rest of his team in the Bolivian jungle. Vin snorted, Cougar was awfully lively for a dead man. He reached out a hand and clicked the mouse revealing the next tab. Cpl. Jake Jensen, computer expert, also listed as deceased, but the face on the screen was the same face he had watched through his scope that very morning. Obviously the military had been misinformed. The big question was why Cougar had failed to report back in to his unit. The next question was what, if anything, Vin should do with this information. He pondered the question for a few minutes. While it was true that he had not seen the man for a decade the Cougar he remembered was a good man and as such Vin was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Many things could go wrong in a covert ops but the worst was being made. Vin sat up. There was just not enough information to make a wise decision. He encrypted the file and downloaded it to his thumb drive. Until he had more to go on he decided it would be best to just sit on the intel. He grinned and maybe make a few discreet inquiries.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **My turn! And for those who don't know, the places mentioned in this chapter are real "hot spots" in the lovely city of Denver. :)

* * *

Cougar and Jensen strolled side by side through Larimer Square, Jensen regaling his silent friend with the detailed rundown on every bar the market's nightlife had to offer. As he spoke, his fingers flew across the tiny touch-pad on his smart phone, which he was using to pull up more intel on their latest mark. Cougar couldn't help but smirk at the hacker's multitasking capabilities and the easy way in which he maneuvered through the crowd without ever breaking eye contact with the screen.

"Dude, we've _gotta _go to Suite Two Hundred. It's the bar of bars around here, like huge, as in Lady Gaga's hosted there huge!" Jake looked up and flashed Cougar a grin. "But don't worry, Cougs, we'll bounce over to the Mynt after that, drink a couple mojitos and pick up some classy latin ladies. How's that sound?"

Cougar's returned smile was all the answer Jensen needed. He opened his mouth to say something else when a loud, siren-like alarm came blaring out of his phone. The pedestrians who were immediately surrounding the two men jumped back, giving Jensen thoroughly annoyed looks as some plugged their ears.

"Sorry, sorry!" Jake shouted as he turned off the horrible noise. He leaned in towards the sharpshooter. "Just got pinged. Someone's been digging into our files."

"Pinged?" Cougar asked incredulously, wondering what sort of noise Jensen set for _real_ emergencies.

Jake merely shrugged as he worked on bringing up the information on who had accessed the files. "ATF?" he said to himself. "What would they want with us?"

Cougar looked over Jensen's shoulder as the hacker sorted through the images of a group of agents listed simply as ATF Team 7.

"Stop," he said as the profile of the man he had a friendly meeting with on the roof that morning appeared on the screen.

Jake glanced at his friend before reading off some information. "Agent Vincent Tanner, designated sharpshooter. Ha, he kinda looks like he could be your adopted white brother. You guys know each other?"

Cougar nodded sharply. "Old friends," he stated, hoping that his pal from the past wasn't about to stir up any trouble that could jeopardize their mission. Remembering Vin's naturally curious nature, however, Cougar sighed and mentally prepared himself for the worst. Things were _probably _about to get interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Okay, enough with the teasers. :P This was by far one of the most fun pieces I've ever written. Aislinn and I stayed up literally all night writing a section of this chapter, then tagging each other in to continue with the next section. We were like battle-writing as much as the characters are "battling" between each scene, and none of this was pre-planned. We simply worked off the last words the other had written. Totally fun! It was like doing improv on stage! Anyway, I think you guys are gonna love this section. As usual, I'm in charge of anything from the Losers side (including the camel story...you'll see, lol) and Aislinn is taking good care of the M7 boys. :)

* * *

"Larabee." He listened for a moment, and then ran a hand through his hair. "I'll be there in 45 minutes. Just find out what you can and call everyone in. Yes, damn it, everyone." He paused. "No,…" He grabbed his jacket and keys and headed out to his truck. "Look, I don't give a fuck who he's with, you tell him I said he better have his sorry ass in the office by the time I get there." He snapped his cell phone shut and sighed. So much for a quiet weekend.

JD closed his phone and stared at the alert on the screen of his video game. He shut the game down and grabbed his helmet before heading out the door. With luck he would have more information for the team by the time they all got in.

He was hard at work when the rest of the team showed up one by one. He had rigged multiple screens up in the conference room and set the main monitor to show on the big screen.

Chris swept into the room. "All right JD what'da we have here?"

JD hit the enter button and information started popping up on the central screen. "We got hacked tonight. Not sure what they wanted, but it looks like all they accessed was our personal files. This may take awhile 'cause they're pinging off servers all over the world."

Chris cocked his head to one side. "Can you trace 'em?"

JD snorted. "Is the Pope Catholic?" His fingers flew over the keyboard and his grin widened as he realized his counterpart was throwing stuff up almost as quickly as he went through it. "So you wanna play do ya?"

_**M7~ L ~ M7~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

Clay's team sat in a hotel suite watching Jensen do some work on his laptop.

"Uh huh, yep, that's what I thought," he nodded, pressing a finger thoughtfully to his lips as he stared at his computer screen.

"What'dya got?" Clay asked, leaning over the hacker's shoulder.

"Well I have this little rash on my ankle and at first I thought it was poison ivy but it looks like I'm probably just allergic to-"

"Oh my god," Pooch muttered, rolling his eyes.

"The ATF team, Jensen, anything new on them?" Clay tried again.

Jensen smiled. "As I expected, their so-called tech expert is trying to trace me through my phone."

Aisha jumped up from the couch arm she was sitting on. "Right now?" she asked.

"Yup," he nodded, "but don't worry, I've got it handled." A bell chimed on his computer and he sat forward. "Whoa."

Pooch stood up from his end of the couch and walked over to join Clay. "'Whoa?' What's that mean?"

Jensen's fingers began flying across the keys. "What it means is that this guy is better than I thought." He grinned. "_Finally_ a little competition."

"Don't get too cocky," Clay advised.

"Tortoise and the hare, I got it," Jake mumbled as he began to focus in earnest on his work. They knew things were getting serious when he started ignoring them and speaking instead to his unseen opponent. "Nope, sorry, not getting to me that way." He punched in a seemingly random set of keys. "But why don't we throw an anchor on you just to make my life a little easier..."

_**L~ M7 ~ L~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

JD grimaced. "Shit! Oh you did not…" His fingers flew over the keyboard. Suddenly music began playing over the speakers.

Buck grinned. JD was pulling out all the stops. When he started playing music it meant he was getting serious.

Josiah shot Buck a glance as he mouthed. "La Copa De La Vida?"

Buck shrugged. He laughed as Ezra's eyebrows climbed at some of the selections. The kid's taste in music was eclectic to say the least. From Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga, to Metallica and Dropkick Murphy. As long as it was high energy the kid loved it.

"Her breath began to speak

As she stood right in front of me

The colour of her eyes

Were the colour of insanity

Crushed beneath her wave

Like a ship, I could not reach her shore

We're all just dancers on the Devil's Dance Floor"

Chris stared at JD as he started singing along with one of the songs. "What the hell is that?" He asked.

Other than JD, whose whole attention was focused on the screen, the entire team turned and stared as a soft southern accent answered the question. "The Devil's Dance Floor by Flogging Molly." He flashed his gold-capped smile. "What? It's a good group. I do listen to things other than baroque you know."

"JD." Chris stopped as JD threw up a hand.

"Not now." He shot the screen a feral grin. "You're gonna have to do better than that you sonofabitch. How about a little present?"

_**M7~ L ~ M7~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"What? Nooooo," Jake breathed out. Keeping one hand dancing on the keypad he reached down to his bag beside the table and slid out a palm pilot. "Wake up Emma, Steed's calling you to duty."

Aisha leaned over to Pooch who had returned to the couch. "What the hell does _that _mean?" she said, her voice just above a whisper.

"It's a reference to _The Avengers_," he answered almost as quietly. "If Jensen's bustin' out Emma already that means whoever's on the other side is no amateur."

They watched as the hacker worked one hand on the laptop and one on the palm pilot, a small trail of sweat trickling down the side of his face as his eyes flicked from one screen to the other. The phone to the left of the computer began to vibrate and he stared at it as if it were a bomb about to go off.

"Jensen," Clay started.

"Shut up Clay," the blond absently spat out, earning surprised but amused looks from the rest of the Losers. Even the Colonel couldn't keep the small grin off his face at the odd role reversal.

Jensen focused back on the still-vibrating phone and moved his hand from the computer so he could work on it. His other hand took up the responsibility of swapping back and forth from Emma to the laptop, sending odd coding spiraling up both screens. "Tricky little bastard, try to dig your way through _that_," he smiled, then turned back to the palm pilot. "And while we're at it, how 'bout a little kiss from Emma? Careful though, she can be a _bit_ of a minx."

_**L~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

JD swiped the sweat off his forehead and narrowed his eyes. "Oh really? Well fuck me on a spotted pony."

Vin choked on his coffee and swore as he spewed it onto the table. He grabbed a napkin, blotting up the coffee before it got to the files resting next to the terminal. The others burst out laughing but JD never even acknowledged them.

"Touché, mon ami, but…." He swung his chair around and grabbed a second keyboard. He set a utility up and set it loose, then turned back and grinned. "Let's see how you like _this_," his fingers where almost a blur as he worked. "Shit, so you wanna take a space walk huh?"

"Space walk?" Josiah leaned in.

"He's pinging off a satellite now." JD explained absently.

Josiah rested a hand on his shoulder. "Is that bad?"

"Well, it makes my life tougher for sure but…." His voice trailed off as the screen caught his attention again. "Damn this guy is good." He said admiringly. He opened a file and downloaded it and sent it off to his opponent.

Nathan frowned. "What did you just send him?"

JD smirked. "Trace Adkins."

Buck's eyes went wide. "You didn't!"

"I did."

"What?"

Buck chuckled. "He sent him the music video for Honky Tonk Bodonkadonk."

_**M7~ L ~ M7~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

Jake nodded at the three screens he was now locked into which were showing scantily-clad cowgirls dancing to a country song. "Oh, okay, I see. We wanna play hardball now, huh? Well I've got news for you, buddy, my balls are made of fucking _steel_! _No one_ has harder balls than I do!"

From his position leaning back against the wall Cougar smirked and pulled his hat lower over his eyes. Aisha and Pooch shared an amused look while Clay just shook his head.

"Like the classics?" Jensen continued. "I see your Trace Adkins and raise you Gene Kelly." He brought both hands back to the laptop and pressed about seven keys all at the same time. Suddenly the numbers and letters shifted positions and began trickling down the screen. He hummed _Singing in the Rain_ while he worked, allowing himself a small victory laugh.

"Is it done?" Clay risked asking.

"Nope," the hacker admitted, using his shoulder to stop the sweat from rolling further down his cheek, "but it might stall him for about ten seconds, which should give me juuuust enough time to set up my next trap."

Pooch leaned forward, his curiosity peaked. "What are you gonna do?"

The smile on Jensen's face made everyone glad he was playing for their team. "Ever seen a zombie movie? My three little amigos here are about to go _Resident Evil_ on my new friend's fancy systems."

"Meaning?" Aisha asked.

"We're about to eat us some brains," the hacker laughed.

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

JD tossed his head back and laughed. "Yeah right. Got ya buster. He's here in Denver Chris and…." His eyes narrowed. "No way, that's fucking wicked, pissah."

Chris raised an eyebrow as JD's mutterings shifted into the Boston accent that always came out when he was stressed. "Gene fucking Kelly my ass." He cracked his knuckles and shook out his hands for a moment while he thought. "Yeah, here we go… no no no, Shit! Oh you are so gonna pay for that ya bastard." His hands worked furiously to save his files, throwing up roadblocks and reinforcing his firewall. He glanced over at the second set up. "Just a another minute and I have you…" He sent off another file. His smirk was pure evil.

Buck shook his head. JD was usually pretty easy going but somehow his counterpart on the other side of the screen had pissed his roommate off and he was about to go for the jugular.

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"Hahaha! Got you running scared now, don't I?" Jensen beamed. He leaned back in his chair and watched his machines work, but the moment only lasted about two seconds before he blurted out, "Oh _shit_!"

Everyone in the room jumped to their feet. "What happened?" Clay demanded as Jake worked feverishly between the three devices.

"A roach. That little prick knows how to work a fucking _roach_. Ugh, I should've seen this coming. How could I not have seen this coming? Because I'm the hare, that's why. Too fucking cocky for my own good, can't even learn from a stupid kid's story. What the hell's wrong with-"

"What's a roach, Jensen?" Clay sighed, cutting off the man's self-directed tirade.

Jake grimaced as he typed. "Sneaky little bug, scurries into all the hidey holes between the programming. If I don't stop it this guy's gonna be onto us like an escaped convict on a French hooker."

"Why's it always gotta be a _French_ hooker?" Pooch asked.

Jensen grinned despite his troubles. "Because it's kinda hot that every time she says 'yes' twice it sounds like she's talking about your dick."

Aisha rolled her eyes and kept herself from punching the hacker in the arm. Instead, she simply asked, "Can you stop this bug?"

"I can..." Jake punched in a few more keys before he pulled his hands away from the machines. "but there's _one_ little problem."

Clay was almost afraid to ask. "What's that?"

Jensen spun his chair around to face them. "Well, if you were to catch a roach with your bare hands, you wouldn't be able to move without letting the bug escape, right? This is sort of like that - I stopped the thing, but I can't do much else without releasing it. On the plus side, whoever_ controls _the roach has to focus all his resources to maintain it. That means he can't move, either, unless I let go of his bug."

"Great, a Mexican standoff," Pooch grumbled.

"Yup, that pretty much sums it up," Jake nodded.

Clay thought for a moment. "In every Mexican standoff I've ever seen, either everyone winds up dead or they find a way to talk their way out of it. I don't really feel like meeting my maker today, so why don't we try for option B?"

"No problem." Jake cracked his knuckles and was about to type the requested message when he paused, his hands hovering over the keys. "Hey Cougs, you think I should address this to your pal Vin?" He froze. "Oops."

Clay, Pooch, and Aisha turned from Jensen to Cougar, who merely pulled his hat even lower over his face. Clay took a step towards the sharpshooter.

"You know someone over there," he stated, to which Cougar simply nodded. "And you didn't think it was important enough to tell us?"

"Relax Clay, it's not his fault," Jake smiled. "I paid him fifty bucks not to." All eyes were back on Jensen and he shrunk back a little from their glares.

"Unbelievable," Clay grumbled. "You were _hoping_ this guy would realize you opened their files, weren't you?"

"It's not every day I get to play with a pro," Jensen shrugged. "Plus, I was thinking that any friend of Cougar's friend has a slight possibility of being a friend of ours?"

Clay clenched his jaw together. "You better hope so. Fix this, Jensen."

"No problem," the hacker said again, his mischievous smile hidden from the rest of them as he swiveled back around to face the screen. The grin grew wider as he typed his special message to a one Agent Vincent Tanner.

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

"No. Way," JD uttered and Buck had to laugh at the way the kid's mouth was hanging open. "He stopped a roach. No one knows how to stop a roach! Well, except for me, of course." He sat back in his chair and dropped his hands into his lap.

Buck frowned. "So…is that it? Did he beat you?"

"No!" JD was quick to snap back. "He didn't beat me, he just tied both of us up. He's like the bell jar over my bug right now and neither one of us can move."

"Stalemate," Josiah grinned.

JD sighed. "Yeah, the only thing we can do-" A chime rang out from his computer signifying he had a message waiting. He leaned forward and scanned the file, determining it was clean before he opened it. "Ummm, guys. It's uh, addressed to you." He turned to Vin and raised an eyebrow. "From someone named Cougar?"

Vin froze. "Ah fuck."

Chris turned and nailed the sharpshooter with a glare. "You know this guy Tanner?"

Vin reached into his pocket, pulled out the thumb drive, and tossed it to JD. "Yes and no. Cougar I know from the Rangers. The tech is named Jensen. Never met him but if he's on Cougar's team figure he's good at his job."

JD nodded. "Oh yeah, he's good alright." JD plugged the thumb drive in and put the files on the main screen.

Chris read through them and turned back to Vin." Well?"

Vin leaned against the wall and smiled. "Well what?"

"Damn it Tanner, what do you know about this?"

Vin shrugged. "Not much. A lot of it's classified. What I do know is that the whole team is supposed to be dead, but I ran into Cougar this morning on the roof."

"What was he doing there?" Ezra asked quickly.

"Watch-dogging Jensen."

Chris glared. "And you didn't bring him in?"

Vin pushed away from the wall. "He's a Ranger, Chris. Bring him in for what? Doing his fucking job? No way I'm messing up a military op. That'd be like arresting Ezra in the middle of a sting."

"Then how do you explain this?" Chris waved at the files.

Vin shrugged. "I can't. At this point all I have to go on is the character of the man."

Chris stared at him for a moment then nodded. "Fair enough." He turned to JD. "So what does the message say?"

JD grinned. "Well, it's a little cryptic but.."

"Just read it JD!"

"All right…" JD turned back to the screen muttering under his breath. "Don't get yer panties in a twist there boss. It says…"

_Got a story for you!_

_So this camel's strolling along through the desert and spots a watering hole. He's all thrilled because he's been like wandering around for days and he's totally thirsty, but when he gets to the hole, he realizes he can't reach the water. Now this camel's not dumb. He looks around and uses his camelly genius to grab a piece of bamboo lying around nearby, wanting to use it as a straw. The only problem is, there's this lion sitting on the other end of the stick._

_"Oh hey lion," the camel says, trying to be all friendly._

_"What's up?" says the lion, playing it cool, ya know. _

_"Nothing much, just trying to take this bamboo so I can drink some water." The camel's all keeping it casual-like._

_"Well I'd love to help you there camel but you see if I move from this spot, then that poacher over there'll put a bullet in my ass." See, the lion's been sitting so still that the idiot poacher thinks he's a rock, but if he moves, the dude'll know he's a lion and then he'll be dead meat._

_The camel reeeeally wants that straw, though. "That's okay, I'll just pull the stick out from under you."_

_"I don't think that's such a great idea," the lion warns, but he can't exactly do anything to stop the camel._

_The camel, who's really thirsty, doesn't listen to the lion. Instead, he pulls and tugs and digs his heels into the sand trying to get the stick, but it just won't budge. With one last massive jerk, though, the thing finally comes free, and for a split second the camel's all excited until he realizes what's happening. See, the force of the pull is so great that it sends the camel rolling back into the hole, and knocks the lion off balance. The lion gets shot by the poacher and the camel breaks his back in the fall. And that's the end of this sad, hopefully lesson-teaching tale._

_Get it? Thought you might. The lion says hi, by the way._

Josiah frowned as he puzzled out the meaning to the tale. "They're under a burn notice." He pushed JD out of his chair and sat down.

"Hey…"

Josiah waved off his objections and started typing:

_Meanwhile high above the water hole a peregrine floated on the breeze. He watched the commotion below with great interest. He remembered meeting the lion long ago and knew that his friend the lion and his pride where in serious trouble. Calling to his friends the wolf pack, he directed their attention to the lion's predicament. The pack leader had his coyote distract the stupid poacher and then they led the lion and his pride through secret paths to a safe haven where the pride could rest and regroup. _

Josiah glanced over at Chris, his finger hovering over the send button. At his nod he pressed the button and they all sat back and waited for the reply.

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

Jensen chewed on the end of his pen as he contemplated the return message from Team 7. "You think his part is better than mine? I mean, sure, his is all to the point and serious and kind of has that whole Native American feel to it, but mine has more _pizzazz._"

Pooch smacked the hacker in the back of the head. "You couldn't just say 'Hey man, it's cool you're Cougar's friend and all but we're on a covert mission so back the fuck off'? I'm sure they would've gotten that just fine, but nooo, you had to go and write a dumbass story, and some dumb ass on their end actually continued it."

"You know, you're absolutely right," Jake said, shaking his finger at Pooch. "Who just starts adding to someone else's story like that? This is a copyright violation here. Everyone, you're my witnesses, I did not approve of this alteration to-"

Clay rubbed his temples with one hand. "Jensen, shut up. They're just being cautious, and from what I can tell, they're actually offering their help."

Aisha frowned. "They're ATF Clay, we don't know if we can trust them."

Cougar pushed away from the wall. "I trust Vin," he stated.

Pooch shook his head. "Been a long time since you were a Ranger, Cougar. We all know personally how a friend can change over the years."

The sniper took several steps forward and glared at Pooch before turning his gaze on the Colonel. "He's clean," he said firmly.

They stared at each other for several long seconds until Jake began anxiously tapping the pen on the table. Clay took a step back and nodded his head.

"We'll compromise," he decided. "We'll call on them _if _we need them for some reason, otherwise it's safer for all of us if they pretend we don't exist. Cougar, I can't tell you who can you pal around with in your off time, but I _am_ going to tell you to be careful. I don't want to drag your friend into this mess if we don't have to. Got it?"

Cougar nodded and strolled back to his position of seemingly holding up the wall. Jake let out a breath as the tension in the air subsided. He continued to tap his pen as he stared at the message until Aisha got fed up and snagged it out of his hand.

"Just write what the man said," she snapped. "With two of you computer nimrods running the show you know no one's going to read it if you don't want them to."

"Not the point," the hacker said. "He infringed upon my creative genius and I have the right to retaliate."

"Jensen, just send the damn message," Clay ordered.

"Alright, alright," the blond mumbled. "Everyone's a critic."

He hunched closer to his laptop as he typed, doing his best to block the screen from the others. It was his computer, after all, so he could write whatever he damn well pleased:

_Awe, you gave everyone on your team a cute little animal. Taking the metaphor thing a little too far, huh? Who's the coyote, btw? That one sounds interesting…_

_Nevermind, I don't need to know._

_I think if I were an animal I'd have to go with an otter. Google it. I'm a total match…. And I think that about wraps up the animal obsession here. Moving right along._

_Look, here's the deal. This is going to play out like 'The Invisible Man' except in this version Griffin isn't batshit nuts and Mrs. Hall doesn't screech like a banshee when she finds out his secret. She's going to go about her business cleaning hotel rooms and probably banging any guest who's hotter than her husband (which is probably all of them), and Griffin is going to keep doing what he has to to make himself visible again. Now if the townsfolk start getting suspicious, Mrs. Hall might just be called upon to spread some rumors so the masses don't come after him with fire and pitchforks. _

_Kapish? _

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

Vin leaned over Josiah's shoulder and typed in one word then hit send.

_HUAH. _

JD turned a quizzical eye to the sniper. "What's that mean?"

Vin smiled. "Heard, Understood, Acknowledged. Hooah." He took a deep breath. "JD, bury this and I mean deep. Their lives depend on it. As of now we know nothing other than my friend is dead. They know how to contact us and that we're willing to help if they need it."

JD nodded. He took a last look at Jensen's file. JD smiled; he had the perfect gift for a fellow New Englander and Irishman. Risking a quick glance around at his teammates he was relieved that their attention was on Chris. He grinned and sent one last file off to Jensen. He jumped as a hand rested on his shoulder.

Vin leaned down. "What did ya send him that time?"

"That song I was singing earlier, _Devil's Dance Floor_. It seems appropriate for their situation." JD said quietly.

Vin smiled and lightly squeezed his shoulder.

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"They get it?" Clay asked.

"Loud and clear," Jensen answered, sighing as the roach program dissolved from beneath his hold on it. Playing with that kid had been fun, and he was actually kind of disappointed that it was over. It had been a while since he had gotten an honest-to-god adrenaline rush from a hack job.

"Alright, fun's over Losers, we've still got a mission to finish," Clay pointed out, sending everyone on their way to get themselves back on task.

Jensen was about to pack up his things when Emma whispered in her sultry tone, "I've got something for you." Smiling, he picked up the palm pilot just in time to see Flogging Molly take over his screen.

"Nice touch," he grinned. He watched the video play out before slipping Emma back into his bag, deciding that maybe the game didn't _have _to be over just yet. When it came to slinking around cyberspace he really _was _the invisible man, after all, and he _really _hated finishing on a tie.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Hoorah! Next chapter! Ais and I had a lil fun with some flashbacks...

* * *

"I think this weekend would be a good time for a bonfire don't you Vin?" Chris asked casually.

Vin cocked his head to one side and grinned lazily. "Sounds good. Been awhile since we had a camping trip."

Chris nodded. "Round 'em up cowboy."

Vin pushed away from the wall and sauntered out of Chris's office to the bullpen.

Chris grinned as he heard four enthusiastic replies and one not so enthusiastic complaint.

**_~M7~_**

Friday they quit work at noon and headed to the ranch. Ezra and Vin stopped to pick up lunch and by the time they got to Chris's place the horses were saddled and the packhorses were loaded. They ate quickly and by 2:00 were on the trail.

The trail wound up the mountain following the ridgeline. The horses picked their way carefully across a shale shelf and everyone breathed easier once they all made it across safely.

Vin watched their back trail to make sure no one was following. So far it was clear and the only thing he had seen was a marmot sunning itself in the brief high altitude summer, and high overhead a peregrine. He relaxed and slid his rifle back in the saddle holster and cantered Peso to catch up with the rest of his team. He nodded at Chris's quizzical glance, all clear. The trail dipped into a meadow and they stopped at the stream to water the horses.

Chris calculated how much daylight they had left and realized they wouldn't be able to reach the cabin until after nightfall. He turned back to his team. "We're camping here tonight. Nathan, Josiah set up the tent, JD and Buck go get some wood. Ezra start dinner, Vin perimeter check." He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out stakes and a rope for a hitching line.

The team quickly had the camp set up and relaxed around the fire eating the stew Ezra had whipped up.

JD glanced over at Vin. "Hey Vin, where did you meet Cougar?"

Vin grinned at the memory. "AIT."

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"Our room, gentlemen, and lady," Jensen smiled as he opened the door to the Chancellor Suite at the Hotel Teatro.

Pooch whistled as he took in the sight of the couches and lounge chairs set up all around the living area, and the limestone fireplace complete with flames already burning brightly inside. Clay smiled at the large black conference table that sat in front of a window framing a spectacular view of the Rockies, and Jensen grinned as he walked over to inspect the hotel-provided desktop computer.

"How's the bathroom in this place?" Aisha asked as she headed down the hall to find out.

Jake's grin grew wider as he shouted over his shoulder, "Don't plan on taking any evening showers!" He caught Cougar's questioning look and shrugged. "I ordered the nightly rubber ducky bubble bath service as a reward for scoring us such nice digs. Speaking of which, I call dibs on the big couch in front of the fireplace! Pooch, Cougar, you can fight over that one in the corner."

The sniper shook his head and threw his bag in an empty space on the floor. "Guess the other couch is mine," Pooch said, obviously pleased with the notion. No one questioned the silent knowledge that Clay and Aisha would be sharing the bedroom, even if the bed _was _technically big enough to sleep at least four of them.

"Do I even want to know what the hell you did to get us a fifteen-hundred dollar a night suite for free?" Clay asked as he moved towards the hall where Aisha had yet to return from, assuming she was already making herself at home in the bedroom.

"Nope," the hacker returned with a wry smile as he plopped down on the couch, grabbing the remote for the TV. Clay laughed as he slipped out the door, leaving everyone to get themselves settled before the real preparations for the mission began. Jensen flipped through a few channels before he quirked his head towards Cougar, who was busy setting up his bedroll on the floor.

"You know, my superiors tried to send me to special counterintelligence training," he stated in an offhand manner. "They kicked me out with a passing grade two days later after I got bored with their mock encrypted files. I rewrote the whole program so every time one of the other trainees failed to hack into it, they got the 'Doom Doom' song from _Invader Zim_ and then a little video of the Earth blowing up."

Pooch paused in his unpacking and stared at the blond. "Is there a point to this story aside from adding to my disbelief that you weren't discharged ten times over before you met us?"

Jensen smirked. "Yeah. I was just thinking that it would surprise me if Cougar and this Vin guy _didn't _pull something to get out of AIT early. Am I right, Cougs? I bet you guys out-snipered the _shit_ out of your so-called 'training specialists.'"

It was small, but both Pooch and Jensen could see the wicked smirk that graced the sharpshooter's features from beneath the brim of his hat.

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

"He was my battle buddy." Vin explained.

JD leaned forward and warmed his hands. He watched the sharpshooter with all the attention of a little brother hanging on every word. "What's that?"

Vin smiled. "He's yer partner. You room together, eat together, play together, fight together. You watch each other's backs." He paused, lost in his memories; his eyes sparkled in mirth at some of the antics he and Cougar had pulled. His friend had been as quiet as he was but there was a hidden streak of mischievousness that ran deep in both men.

Buck and Chris exchanged grins. The two of them had been battle buddies in the Seals and knew how deep the friendship could go. Now Chris understood Vin's unquestioning trust in the other man.

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

Pooch plopped down on his claimed couch and threw his hands behind his head. "So I'm guessing you guys were like Battle Buddies or something?" he asked, also curious about the story behind this ATF friend of Cougar's.

The sniper nodded and sat down on his bedroll, leaning up against the wall and drawing up his knees so he could casually drape his arms across them.

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Geezus, Cougar, there's like twenty different places to sit in here and you choose the floor?" At Cougar's shrug, Jensen switched tracks in the conversation again. "I tried the Battle Buddy program a few times, didn't work out too well for me."

"Is there a program you _didn't _get kicked out of?" Pooch asked.

"Hey," the hacker started, making a mock face as if his feelings were hurt, "it's not _my _fault none of my Buddies appreciated my hatred of all things boring."

Cougar chuckled, bringing a smirk to Pooch's face. "See? Even _he _knows that basically means you drove them all nuts. You talk too damn much."

Jake looked up at the ceiling in thought before speaking. "Nah, I don't think the talking was the problem. It was probably the putting blue food coloring in his toothpaste that took care of the first guy, stapling the sheet down to the mattress while my Buddy was still sleeping in it for the second, and I'm pretty sure I struck out with number three when I switched all his BDUs with kid-sized versions and told him I accidentally shrunk them in the wash."

Again Pooch shook his head. "I'm amazed you got through training without being shot."

"What? They were just practical jokes," Jake defended himself. "I had to do _something _to kill the downtime."

"Vin liked practical jokes," Cougar added with a wide smile.

Jensen grinned back. "Oh yeah? What'd he do? Rig the targets to explode or something?"

"No," Cougar said, the smile still plastered on his face. "A Flushing Dawn, once."

Jake gasped. "No way! Whose?"

"All of them," Cougar shrugged.

"Oh my god," Jake laughed out. "Hold on, there's no way one guy could have hit the whole base in one –" he gasped again. "You helped him, you slick bastard! Come on, that deserves a fist bump." He leaned over the back of the couch and reached his fist out to the sniper, who honored the hacker's symbol of admiration.

"What the hell is a Flushing Dawn?" Pooch asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like" Jensen explains. "It's when you pour a bunch of Dawn dish soap in the back of the toilet tank so when someone comes along and flushes it…"

"Bubble volcano," Cougar finishes.

Pooch laughed. "You two are unbelievable, you know that?"

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

JD doubled over laughing. "You two did that? Wow, I bow to the masters. We have _got_ to meet this guy."

Vin grinned. "Ya'll will like him. Cougar's a good man, a little batshit crazy sometimes but a good man."

Buck snorted. "Batshit crazy huh? Now we don't know anyone like that do we?"

JD shook his head. "So did you two pull any other shit while you were in tech school?"

Vin smirked. "One or two things."

"Like?"

Vin chuckled "Well, this one time we were out bar hopping and ended up at the NCO club with this chick from MARS and I gotta tell you, she was feisty. Well anyway we where all playing pool and one of the guys bet her she couldn't beat Cougar, and it went downhill from there. Damn if they didn't end up playing strip billiards. For every ball that got sunk someone lost a piece of their clothes."

"So who won?" Nathan asked

"She did. So there's Cougar, our reigning pool champion, stripped down to his boxers and a pair of socks, up on top of the pool table doing the bump and grind with this chick and damn, the crowd got pretty noisy after that, 'cause shit faced or not those two could dance! I still can't listen to that song without seeing those two up there." He paused and shook his head at the memory. "Then the manager called the MP's so we all had to get out of there pretty quick."

Buck laughed. "Sounds like my kind of lady."

Vin grinned. "Oh yeah, she was fun. You would have liked her, Buck. We all got to be really good friends and spent that whole summer bumming around. I remember this one time…"

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

Clay and Aisha shared a glance as they heard Jensen exclaim, "You played strip billiards with _that?_"

"You wanna know?" Aisha asked.

"Probably not," Clay answered, but they both hesitated for only a second before trying to casually rush back to the living room. When the got there they found the rest of their unit huddled around the hotel computer grinning like idiots over something Jensen had pulled up on the screen.

"And you and her…," Jake continued, to which Cougar nodded. "To _Lick It?_"

Clay cleared his throat before asking, "Something we should share?"

Pooch laughed. "Yeah, apparently Cougar and his boy Vin had a little fun with a MARS girl when they were in AIT."

"Cougar danced mostly naked with her on top of a pool table to _Lick It_!" Jensen half shouted, half laughed. "20 Fingers would be proud."

Aisha stepped forward and looked at the file of a one Brianna McGregor. The girl pictured was gorgeous, with long red hair, blue eyes, and a smile that said "you can try to keep up, but you'll fail."

"Not bad," she muttered.

"Not bad?" Jake asked, flabbergasted. "She's a five-seven, hundred-thirty pound Texan, flies choppers for a living, and rides bulls for fun! She's perfect! …I'm thinking our next mission should be in San Antonio, right Cougs?" He elbowed the sniper in the ribs as he said this, making Cougar backhand him across the shoulder in playful return.

Clay admired the girl in the picture for a moment before raising an eyebrow at Cougar. "Do anything else with her besides dance on pool tables?" he asked with a smirk.

The sniper quirked his eyebrows up boyishly. "Breast-stroke at the Chattahoochie."

Jensen choked on the grape soda he was drinking. "Why would you _do_ that?"

Cougar shrugged. "It was nearby."

"So are the other like four pools," Jensen pointed out, "any of which would've gotten you just a citation if you got caught. You guys could've been looking at some serious jail time, dude!"

Aisha leaned over to Clay. "Can you translate this for me, because I have no idea what they're talking about."

Clay smiled. "The Chattahoochie is a ritzy country club with an even ritzier pool, and it just happens to be close to Fort Brennen. Sounds like the kids went on a little skinny-dipping adventure."

"Breast-stroke…I get it." She shook her head at him. "You guys are kind of freaky sometimes, you know that? If I ever learn to speak Cougar/Jensenese do me a favor and just shoot me."

"Noted," Clay said with a slight grin.

Pooch turned around and leaned back against the desk. "So, aside from pulling pranks and playing Bonnie, Clyde and Clyde, got any other stories we should know about?"

Cougar thought for a moment before another mischievous grin crossed his face. "Stalk training…" he started.

Jensen took the moment in which the others were distracted to send Bri's profile to JD's private, safeguarded email address. If the kid were just like any other self-respecting tech geek the message would send an alert to his phone, in which case he'd also get the special little trap Jake rigged up along with a text message:

_Check out the chicita our buddies were palling around with! _

_(Nice trick hiding your contact info in that song file, btw, though possibly not very smart… Now I know where you live!…in regards to cyberspace that is. Let the battle rage on, my friend. Mwahahahahahaha!) *a salute, a wink, and my token cocky grin*_

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

JD jumped as his phone went off. He glanced down noticing there was a file coming in.

Vin shot straight up, his eyes wide as he recognized the tune - _Lick It_. He burst out laughing.

"Mind sharing with the class?" Chris smirked as he watched the sharpshooter trying desperately to get his giggling under control, tears forming in his eyes.

"That song!" Vin finally chuckled out. "It's the one from the bar!"

Everyone turned their attention to JD, knowing that clearly they weren't going to get any more information from their laughing sharpshooter. The kid merely grinned goofily at his phone and turned it around, showing them a picture of a gorgeous redhead who easily trumped all the little boy fantasies of Jessica Rabbit.

Buck's look of shock was priceless. "Boy, you better not tell me you've been runnin' around with a woman like _that_without me noticing."

Vin calmed himself and leaned forward to admire the girl he had remembered from his past. "That's Bri. Looks like Cougar's been sharing stories, too; and if I remember right he'll tell the one about what happened in stalk training next."

Ezra smiled, keeping his attention on the deck of cards in his hands as he spoke. "I imagine putting you through that particular exercise was akin to my, quote, 'necessary training' in how to cheat a lie detector test?"

"That about sums it up," Vin nodded with a sly smirk. "Both of us grew up hunting in Texas. And on the res, counting coup was almost as popular as football. So Cougs and I were both already pretty good at it when we started AIT. But we had this instructor that was the most arrogant sonofabitch in the Army. Damn, everybody hated that guy. So anyway he had overheard somebody betting on whether Cougs or I could count coup on this guy. Don't know if he thought we were in on the bet or not but he went off on both of us and dared us to put our money where our mouths were. He bet both of us $1000 that we wouldn't be able to get within 100 feet of him let alone _that_ close."

Ezra grinned ferally. "$2000 buys a lot of beer."

Vin chuckled. "Yeah it did. Bought the three of us a real nice weekend." He winked at Buck.

**_~M7~_**

Brianna's eyes widened as the boys spread what had to be a couple thousand dollars on the bed between them. _"_¡Mierda! What'd you boys do? Rob a bank?"

Cougar laughed. "No," he grinned. "Just put Naglan in his place."

Her eyes grew wide. "What did you do?"

Vin smiled. "Nothing illegal. We just beat him at his own game. Ya know what counting coup is?"

She nodded hesitantly. "Isn't that something the Native Americans used to do? Something about sneaking up on people?"

"Yep. Well Naglan bet we couldn't do it. After all, we're just students." He and Cougar exchanged a grin. "We grabbed his ankle simultaneously. Thought the guy was gonna piss himself."

She giggled. "Idiot! Way to go guys." She rewarded each of them with a kiss.

"You got any plans this weekend Bri?" Cougar asked.

"Just hanging with ya'll. Why?"

"'Cause Vin and I are treating you to a weekend in South Padre. We rented a place. Sound good?"

She grinned. "Hell yeah!"

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"Naglan, that guy was a pompous ass," Clay frowned as he sat down on "Jensen's couch" beside Aisha, handing her a beer as he took a draw on his own.

She smiled warmly in thanks and took a sip before she turned her attention back to Cougar. "Stalk training... That's the one where you have to get within like two hundred meters of your instructors before firing blanks at them, right?"

"One-fifty," Jensen corrected, now sitting the wrong way in his chair with his legs straddling the back of it and his chin resting on his arms, "and you have to cross a thousand meters of almost open field to get there with two other guys trying to hunt you down. If anyone spots you, you fail. It's pretty bad ass, actually."

Pooch slapped the sniper on the shoulder. "Nothing our boy here couldn't handle."

"I keep trying to tell you guys Cougs was a ninja in a past life," Jake sighed.

There was a knock on the door and everyone in the room instantly tensed before the person on the other side announced themselves as room service. Jensen grinned happily as he jumped up from his chair.

"My ducky bath's here!" he exclaimed as he rushed to the door, throwing it open. A woman walked in carrying a basket of bubble bath soaps and a few rubber duckies. Jensen followed her closely on her way to the bathroom, reaching down to grab his overnight bag from the floor on the way past the others. He shot them a happy smile before disappearing down the hall.

"He was serious?" Pooch asked.

Aisha snorted. "Could practically see his tail wagging."

Clay grinned and checked his watch. "We should probably start thinking about turning in, too. As of tomorrow, playtime's over."

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

Team 7 was silent for a minute while what Vin had said about he, Cougar, and Bri spending a weekend alone together sunk in. Buck sent him a speculative look. Vin grinned and pulled his hat down to shade his eyes.

Chris laughed at the various stunned looks his team sent the sharpshooter. "Ok everybody, story time's over. Hit the sack and tomorrow we'll finish this up and get the cabin stocked just in case it's needed as a safe house."

There was the usual rough housing and smack talk before everyone settled down and fell asleep, with Vin getting more of his fair share of teasing. Chris grinned. He couldn't wait to meet this friend that brought out the prankster in his sniper. He braced himself; the next few weeks should be interesting to say the least.

* * *

**A/N: **The hotel where the Losers are staying? That's a real hotel in Denver with a real Chancellor Suite and actually does provide a rubber ducky bath service! If you google 'Hotel Teatro' and click on the virtual tour in 'Rooms and Amenities' you can see a 360 view of the living room, bathroom, and bedroom! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **This chapter is mostly Losers heavy, so I apologize to the M7 fans but tip my hat and grin wickedly at the Losers folks. ;) Now we're finally starting to get down to business, though. No more fun and games (well, mostly, 'cause really how can there _not _be fun and games when we throw these two teams together?).

* * *

As he had done so many nights since the Losers had been "killed" in the line of duty, Cougar sat up from his bedroll with a jolt. This time, however, it wasn't because he had been having nightmares of the chopper exploding or seeing what little was left of the burned remains of the children. Tonight's dream had actually been a happy one, the first one he'd had in ages. He had been dreaming about Bri and Vin and all the trouble they had gotten into, of all the good times he'd had before his first mission came to take down an actual living target, thus beginning the transformation into the silent killer he was now.

His sudden wakefulness and loss of happy memories had been forced away by someone else's restlessness tonight. Sitting quietly, Cougar listened as Jake shifted on the couch, smiling slightly when he realized the hacker was typing extra slow in an attempt to dull the sounds of his fingers striking the keys. The sniper also took note of the fact that the laptop's usual glow was nowhere to be seen, which meant Jensen had fashioned a tent for himself out of his blankets.

It wasn't unusual to find the tech staying up past everyone else to work on his computer, but the fact that he was trying to be so secretive about it this time had Cougar feeling a little bit concerned. He stood slowly and maneuvered around the couch, careful not to wake Pooch as he passed. Not wanting to startle the hidden man, he whispered out Jensen's name first before he gently pulled away the end of the blanket that was covering Jake's head.

Despite the efforts to quietly announce his presence, Jake still looked mildly startled by Cougar's approach. "Sorry, Cougs," he whispered, "I was trying not to-"

"Light sleeper," the sniper reminded him, shaking off the apology. He glanced down at the laptop in hopes to catch some clue as to what Jensen was so worried about.

Jake caught the curious look in Cougar's eyes and turned the screen so he could see what was on it. "Thomas Gabsty. I hate to admit it, but I'm kinda nervous about going after this guy. He's like the fucking Godfather of weapons dealers."

"He sells to Max," the sniper growled.

Jensen held up his hands in defense. "I know, I know, we take him down, we wipe out Max's main supplier…at least for the time being. I don't wanna back out or anything, just wanted to make sure I've dotted all the t's and crossed all the i's. One mistake with this guy and you're pig food, or more like _I'm _pig food, since I'm the lucky one who has to deal with him."

"You'll be covered," the sniper promised him, but it didn't seem to do much to ease the kid's nervous tension. Cougar couldn't blame him. Gabsty wasn't just a run-of-the-mill criminal; he was a king amongst chess players. This mission couldn't just be a simple takedown tag-and-bag, not with the way Gabsty had all the possibilities planned out several steps in advance, including what would happen to his business in the case of his death. No, if they truly wanted to cut off Max from his firepower they'd need to play Gabsty's game from the inside, and to do _that_ they needed to send in the least intimidating person on their team. Jensen, with his easy smile and goofy antics, just had a natural way of making people drop their guard around him; plus, despite the blond's sometimes lack of common sense, he was also a damn good chess player. That left him as the only possible option, putting a lot of pressure on him not to screw things up, and putting a lot of pressure on the rest of the team to be there if he did.

That meant, of course, putting a lot of pressure on Cougar. He would be Jensen's guardian angel at all times, and it would be up to him to take the shot the very second it was needed if it came down to that. The slightest hesitation would not only cost them another way to whittle down at Max's defense, but worse, it would cost them all the life of their youngest brother.

All remnants of Cougar's good humor from his dream faded away at the thought. Suddenly the idea of having an extra set of trained eyes and ears to cover Jensen's back seemed vastly more appealing, and he wondered if maybe he couldn't talk Clay into letting Vin help after all. That discussion, though, would have to wait until morning. Right now he wasn't in sniper mode; instead he needed to just be a friend and try to get Jensen to sleep. The hacker would need to be well rested for his second encounter with "Thing 1 and Thing 2," as he called them, come tomorrow evening.

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"Toss me that roll of gauze Josiah," Nathan held his hand out and absently caught the roll tossed to him. He pursued the first aid/surgical box. All he still needed to pack in it was more suture thread. He dug into the backpack and found a roll that he stashed away.

"There, that should do it. 'Siah check the antibiotics and painkillers in the chest please. Make sure nothing's out of date. Chris!" he hollered up the stairs. "Tell Ezra I need him down here. We need to stock some more plasma and whole blood."

He heard a murmur of voices from above and Chris yelled back down the stairs. "Ezra says you're a fucking vampire."

"Hell yeah I am and he's our only universal donor so tell him to get his ass down here and quit his bitchin." There was more quiet conversation then the sound of footsteps stomping down the stairs.

Ezra appeared on the stairs scowling. "I hate giving blood."

Nathan smiled thinly. "I know you do but you would hate it more if someone died for lack of a little blood. Have a seat and eat these." He handed the undercover agent a package of cookies and an energy drink. Ezra stuck his arm out and let Nathan bring up a vein and insert the needle. He kept his face turned away and nibbled on his cookies.

"Buck and JD got the kitchen stocked?" He asked more to distract Ezra than out of any true interest.

"No, Vin volunteered to supply our potential guests with what I presume will be a month's worth of frozen pizzas, twinkies, potato chips, and Mt. Dew. JD is making sure the computer and satellite phone are fully functional, and Buck is in the process of restocking the entertainment."

"Oh? What's he got this time?" Nathan asked.

"He found a film based off a comic book series. It's about a," he made quote signs with his fingers, "'rogue CIA black-ops unit out for revenge upon the former handler who left the team for dead following a failed assassination attempt.'" He grinned. "At least that is what Buck says. Personally, I think he just enjoys the young woman on the team who he describes as being 'volatile.'" The two exchanged grins. Buck was nothing if not predictable where women were concerned.

"What's Chris doing?"

"He went outside to make certain all the lines of sight aren't overgrown, and that the stable is in more than its usual passable condition."

Nathan nodded as he checked the blood levels. "Almost done here. How ya doing? No light headedness?"

"Right as rain," Ezra smiled, and stuffed the rest of his cookie in his mouth.

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

The team sat around their conference table the next morning doing their best to continue hashing out their plan to take down Gabsty without getting anybody killed. The question to bring Team 7 into the fold was shot down almost instantly by Clay. It would be hard enough to get Jensen in without someone from law enforcement breathing down their necks, and the Losers weren't exactly known for doing things in subtle, legal fashion. Dead in some circles and wanted in others, the matter of carrying out their missions the Boy Scout way wasn't exactly at the top of their list of worries.

No, Vin and the men he worked with would still have to remain in the dark, at least for now; but knowing the ATF was sticking close by, Clay would have to make sure that anything they did that would go against the law couldn't be traced back to them in any fashion. This tacked on a whole new level of difficulty to the plan that they hadn't previously been working around, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Gabsty was a big fish to fry, one the ATF was probably jumping all over, and probably tripping up every step of the way in trying to take him down. If Jensen had to secretly break a few rules to get this guy out in the open for them, Clay could use those agents to wrap up the mess when it was over. Max's supply would be cut off and if they went about it the right way, he'd be blaming the ATF instead of the Losers. Maybe, if they got lucky, they'd even find some info on Max that could help them take him out without him ever even knowing they were there.

"Knock it off, Jensen," Pooch grumped quietly, trying not to interrupt Clay's orders on how things were to play out.

"What?" Jake asked innocently.

Cougar reached over and placed a stilling hand on the hacker's bouncing knee. He wasn't certain if the overabundance of energy this morning was from nerves or the fact that Jensen had already consumed about five cups of coffee over the course of the hour. Then again, the fact that Jake felt the need to drink that much caffeine was a sign in itself that he still hadn't really slept the night before, even after Cougar had supposedly calmed him and went back to bed. It worried the sniper; the kid hadn't been this nervous about a mission since his first op as part of the team. At the time, though, it still hadn't really been about the fact they were about to run into a situation where they were grossly outnumbered, needed to retrieve a tiny flash drive stashed in a locked room in the very center of a compound, and had to get out before the whole place blew into smithereens. That stuff Jensen could handle, eating it up like just another adrenaline rush. No, what had the tech so uneasy was an odd self-consciousness that he rarely ever depicted, a need to make sure that he didn't make himself look like a failure in front of Clay and his men. He was acting that same way now.

The knee tried to move again beneath the sniper's hold and Cougar pushed down on it that much harder. Jensen looked at him only briefly, but in that glance Cougar was able to see all the blond's concerns as clearly as if he were looking into the waters of the Maldives.

"Te irá muy bien"," he whispered.

Clay caught the words and looked up sharply. "Jensen, there a problem?"

Jensen's eyes got a little wide. "No. I mean, well, not _exactly_. No, I mean no, no problem at all. It's fine, I'm fine, everything's fine."

Aisha frowned. "Real convincing. He's supposed to get through Gabsty's goons like _that_?"

And there it was – Cougar again saw that flash of rare stage fright cross through Jake's eyes, and realized that's _exactly_ what it was. Jensen was used to being a supporting character, the comic relief, the one that played an important role but never had to carry the entire show. Just like that very first mission, he had found himself suddenly standing in the spotlight acting as the lead, and he knew that if he botched a line the entire show would fall apart. They would be there to assist him if he made a mistake, he knew, but he also knew that in reality he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. As much as he liked comparing himself to the great film talents, inside he was well aware that he was just a stand-up comedian playing at improv on a movie set. His first encounter with Gabsty's men had already been a near disaster, and now he was being asked to carry on the act for however long it took to get close to one of the most dangerous weapons dealers in the country.

"He'll be fine," Cougar stated again, this time for everyone else to hear.

Jensen gave them all an unconvincing smile. "Yeah, no problem. This'll be just like defusing a bomb."

Clay snorted. "You suck at defusing bombs."

"So I keep trying to tell you," Jake sighed, wiping at his eyes beneath his glasses. "And yet you keep making me try…"

"Practice makes perfect," Clay smiled, then changed tracks. "Just do what we talked about and act like yourself. You pretend to be anything more and they'll get suspicious."

"Is this where we're supposed to tell you to just picture all the bad guys in their underwear?" Aisha smirked.

Pooch laughed. "Yeah, but don't do that strip thing when you go hacker mode. The effect gets a little lost if everyone literally sees you in _your _underwear."

"Thanks guys, that's real helpful," Jake said sarcastically, but gave them a little grin just the same.

Cougar released his hold on the hacker's leg when he felt the muscles slightly relax. They all went back to focusing on pulling off the setup, the one that would turn Jake from being just the "middle man for a potentially interested buyer" to "tech geek that worked on the inside for Gabsty." The sniper smiled at the fact that the dealers would have no idea that Jensen was much, much more than just a tech geek. Well, _hopefully _they would have no idea, anyway…if all went according to plan.

_**L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ L**_

Monday morning found Vin leaning against the wall trying to hide his yawns while Chris briefed them on the case they had just been assigned.

"Gabsty is the biggest arms dealer we've run into in recent years and the man has a formidable reputation. Ezra, you'll be going in as a buyer. He tends to think well ahead of the game so I want you to be very careful with this one. Vin, you'll be high cover as normal. JD, I need you on something else. There are rumors that Gabsty has a government contact and we need you to see what you can dig up there. Just do your best not to tip anyone off that you're even looking. Ok, get going and let's take this asshole down."

_**M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ L ~ M7 ~ M7**_

"He drown in there or something?" Pooch groused, coming back from checking if Jensen had come out of the bathroom yet, for the second time.

Aisha smirked. "You could always piss in a cup."

"I'm not pissin' in a damn cup when there's a perfectly good toilet ten feet away. He's been in there with those stupid ducks long enough."

Clay kept his head down as he looked over the new information Jensen had managed to dig up. "Leave him be, he's de-stressing."

Pooch snorted. "It's Monday. He's only been on the job a couple days. How much de-stressing could he need?"

"They watch him," Cougar reminded Pooch.

It was still far too early for Jake to make contact with Gabsty, but the dealer's muscle – Hector and Marcus – kept a close eye on everything Jensen did while he was "on the clock." If they were lucky and the hacker kept impressing them, there was a very real possibility that he'd wind up further on the inside where the Losers wanted him. In that case, Gabsty's men would be watching him nearly 24/7, just as a precaution, and Jake would have to stay in his own apartment away from the team. That meant, of course, he intended to abuse the hotel privileges as long as he possibly could whether they liked it or not.

Clay let him get away with it. The kid had done a good job with the initial infiltration, his nervous energy actually working better for him in the long run. It made his act that much more convincing when he had to explain to Hector and Marcus that the buyer he was supposedly working for decided to pull out of the deal at the very last moment. As expected, the two thugs were about to go against the standard rule of thumb of "don't kill the messenger," when Hector suddenly got a call that the funds in their account were magically disappearing. Jensen, who had set this all up ahead of time, was quick to volunteer his services. In a matter of minutes, he had stopped the bleeding funds and redirected the money's route to a different, more secure account. He made up some story about some other hacker being responsible and that it could take a while to find the guy, but he could do it if they wanted him to. Naturally, they did, because hotheads like those guys were never ones to pass up a good vengeance opportunity. The usual threats of "you screw this up or try any funny business, we'll make sure no one ever finds your body" ensued, and Jensen was in.

Aside from his initial duty of "tracing down the fuckbag that tried to steal their money," Jensen was also given other odd hacking jobs. Gabsty was testing his skill, as was also expected, and had men breathing down his neck the entire time he was playing their game. It made things difficult to get any information that could safely shut down Gabsty's operations without anyone noticing, but the kid was smart and had managed to dig up a few tiny details here and there under the radar. One of those details was that a new buyer, a one Ethan Sanders, was scheduled for a pickup within the next few days. It was Clay's hope that Jensen could somehow get involved with that deal. With an actual sale under his belt, it'd be possible the hacker could earn himself a spot deeper on the inside, closer to Gabsty.

The sound of the bathroom door opening and water draining caught everyone's attention, and Pooch was down the hall in a flash. Jensen stumbled a little as he was shoved into the living room doorway, towel still around his waste and a slightly shocked look on his face.

"What's up with him?" he asked.

Aisha ducked her face to hide her smile and Clay just shook his head. Cougar took a closer look at the slight dark circles beneath the tech's eyes, but didn't say anything about it. If everything continued going to plan then soon none of them would be getting much sleep. For every hour that Gabsty had one of his men watching Jensen, one of the Losers would be watching Gabsty's man. Jake wouldn't fall to that monster, not if they could help it. Cougar would make sure of it.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Lol, last chapter was more serious, now we're playing a little bit with the humor again. :) This was a fun one to write, and pretty much seamless between what I wrote and what Ais wrote. (Though anyone who knows me at all will know one particular scene that I did *not* write, but still thought was funny as all hell and went with it, lol).

* * *

Jensen's leg bounced up and down as he rode along in the back of the big black SUV, his gear stacked up neatly beside him.

"You nervous, Sparky?" Hector asked.

Jake grinned and shook his head. "No, excited. I've never been on this side of a deal before, it's kind of empowering, ya know? And the way you guys run these things? It's like teasing a dog with a whole plate of bacon before yanking it away and giving them like a lame, tiny little piece of it. It's kind of genius, keeps 'em coming back, right?"

"That's the idea," Marcus smirked from the driver's side.

In truth, Jensen _was _nervous, and a little sick to his stomach. He was about to participate in a weapons deal, a real one; and though he knew this one sale might help take one of the biggest dealers off the streets, he also knew the one gun they were selling today would probably kill someone. He just had to hope that the _someone _wasn't an innocent, or worse yet, an innocent child.

They pulled into an abandoned gas station miles outside the city off some dirt road. Marcus and Hector brought out the gun cases while Jake set up his work station on a little fold-out table. Hector looked at the computer skeptically.

"You sure you can get us hooked up to the office from out here?" he asked.

The tech stayed focused on what he was doing as he answered. "You sure you aren't on steroids?" He looked up, alarmed. "Sorry, that just sort of slipped out. Uh…online….now."

Hector glared at him, but Marcus chuckled and slapped Jake on the back. "Good work, Sparky. This deal goes as smooth as you promise, we may find a little better use for your skills."

"Oh, it'll be smooth, trust me," Jake assured them, relaxing a little as he went back to work on the system. "This'll be so much easier than your old phone-and-paper method. Seriously, who _does _that anymore? Caveman technology. My niece can do better than that, and she's _nine_." He shook his head and typed some things into the computer, not noticing the way the two men sneered at him.

As they waited for their buyer to show up, Cougar kept his scope trained on Jensen and flinched at the tech's accidental insult. The hacker had rigged up the mic in his laptop to transfer to their comms – the team couldn't hear him when the computer wasn't up and running and couldn't speak back to him, but it was better than risking Gabsty's men finding a bug or earbud on Jensen.

Pooch set down his binoculars and glanced over at Clay. "You sure telling him to be himself was a good idea?"

The Colonel shrugged and smiled. "Hasn't gotten him killed yet."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Pooch added.

"Hey, head's up, here comes our buyer," Aisha informed them as she kept her watch on the road. A red Spider came speeding into the gas station, kicking up dirt as it came to a sliding halt. A man in a fancy Armani suit stepped out, brushing some of the falling dust off his sleeves and sporting a cocky grin. "Asswipe," she muttered.

Cougar trained his gun on the man. He didn't know why, but his instincts told him that this Ethan character wasn't everything he appeared to be on the surface. Whatever the man was hiding, Cougar would be ready for it.

_**L~M7~L~M7~L~M7~L~M7~L~M7**_

Ezra felt a prickle run up his spine, all of his instincts screaming danger at him. He glanced around casually, analyzing the men standing around waiting for him. He stiffened slightly at the sight of the man behind the laptop. That man looked an awful lot like the picture of… _"_Ah hell, things just got a lot more complicated."

Vin moved his scope around checking out each of the players. He repositioned his comm earpiece before answering. "What's wrong Ezra?"

"Look at the tech with the laptop. Is that who I think it is?"

Vin moved his attention to the blond man and studied his face_. _"Shit. Yeah it is. What the fuck is he doing here? Chris we have a situation. Remember that hacker JD was dueling with? Well he's here."

"Acknowledged."

"Should we abort?"

"Negative. Maintain positions for now. Ezra keep an eye on Jensen and see if you can get any information on what the fuck he's up to."

"Acknowledged." Ezra walked forward slowly. "Good morning gentlemen, I trust you brought the merchandise?"

Jensen practically beamed. "Oh, we did _way _better than that. Wait 'til you see what I-"

A glare from Marcus cut him off and Jensen ducked his head, mumbling an apology. Ezra eyed him for a moment before he turned back to the two larger men. "I was under the distinct impression that it would just be the two of you I was to deal with. Who is this?"

Jake stood up and extended his hand but was shoved back down into his seat before he could even start to say his name. Hector spoke for him. "Don't mind Sparky, here, boss sent him along to help with the sale. Just the computer grunt, he's clean."

Ezra seemed to mull the information over while he studied Jensen, who met his gaze with an even glare, almost challenging him. The undercover agent let the tension thicken for just a little longer before he broke it with one of his gold-toothed grins. "Well, I suppose if the Great Gabsty vouches for him, I certainly have no right to feel suspicious. Now," he walked behind the table and slapped Jensen on the back hard enough to knock him forward just a little, earning him a surprised little grunt from the hacker, "what was it you wanted to show me?"

Marcus and Hector crowded around just a little closer. Hector cleared his throat. "If you'd like to look at the models we have on hand first, Mr.-"

"Ethan, please," Ezra interrupted. He kept his hand where he'd left it on Jensen's back and leaned over the tech a little further, a little surprised that the other man didn't seem to tense at all under the personal space invasion. Jake just glanced up at him briefly before he brought up a display on the screen.

"Uh, these are the guns we have on hand," Jensen explained, showing Ezra a quick 360 view of each piece. "And these…" - a new window popped up with a catalogued listing of just about every type of gun Ezra could imagine – "are the ones we can get for you."

"This, gentlemen, is very impressive," Ezra grinned. As far as he was leaning over Jensen, when he turned to address the hacker they were nearly face-to-face. "Did you do this yourself?"

From up on a bluff Buck laughed as he watched the show play out below them. "What the hell is he doin'? Makin' a pass at the kid?"

Chris smirked and shook his head. "Just doing his job to feel him out. Ezra'll make his move when he needs to."

Jake merely looked back at the screen and shrugged. "Kid stuff, really, kind of a waste of my talents. Maybe if you could spread the word that you're all super-impressed, though, Gabsty'll assign me something a little more on my level."

Marcus and Hector rolled their eyes, and Ezra squeezed Jensen's shoulder a little harder, forcing the tech to really look at him. "Well, my friend, from the way I hear tell if you want to get in with Gabsty you must first have the patience of a lion," – he looked at Jensen pointedly – "second have the cunning of a coyote," – he made the smallest of hand gestures towards himself – "and third, you must have a very keen eye for telling friend from foe."

Jake's eyes grew wide. "Oh, shit," he spat out, and Ezra barely managed to fight back a wince.

They now had Hector and Marcus's full attention.

Ezra gripped Jake's shoulder tighter as a signal to "say something believable to explain that _right now_ or we're both royally fucked."

Jensen looked up at the man leaning over him and grinned evilly. He reached up and brushed a hand along his jaw, running his thumb over the other man's bottom lip. "You sure got a pretty mouth, Ethan." He pulled Ezra down and kissed him, his fingers twitching on the back of Ezra's neck as the adrenaline from outwitting the bad guys rushed through his system.

Hector and Marcus stared at the two in shock. Ezra tensed up every muscle in his body for a second, then realizing the diversionary tactic for what it was, cringed but made the moment believable on his end, as well.

Pooch and Aisha, almost as if they had rehearsed it, simultaneously dropped their binoculars, raised them again, then dropped them one more time.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Pooch spat out.

Cougar chuckled to himself as he kept watch through his scope. "Kissing the coyote," he explained.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, I can see that," Pooch snapped. "Why?"

Clay's laughter joined Cougar's as he focused on one of "Ethan's" fists clenched tightly behind Jensen's back – his only display of his discomfort with the situation tucked out of sight of Gabsty's goons. "Welcome to the Losers, agent," the Colonel grinned.

_**L~M7~L~M7~L~M7~L~M7~L~M7**_

Vin grinned. "JD, please tell me you got that on tape."

Chris shot the sniper a look of exasperated amusement, but chuckled as the tech replied "Hell yeah I did."

Buck snickered. "He is never gonna live this down." He bumped the fist JD extended and leaned down to admire the screenshot JD had captured. "Oh yeah, never in a million years."

"If Jensen's here, you know the rest of his team will be too," Josiah reminded them.

Nathan frowned. "Should we try and make contact?"

Chris shook his head. "No, let them come to us. Vin, add the tech to your watch though. We don't know this team or what their game is and I'll be damned if this guy is gonna get Ezra killed." He held a hand up to still Vin's objections. "I'm not saying you can't watchdog him. Just don't put him on the safe list quite yet."

Vin nodded. "Fair enough." He lowered his head and continued watching through his scope.

Hector cleared his throat uncomfortably, causing Ezra to slowly pull back away from Jensen. With his face turned away from the two dealers he shot the tech an irritated _what the fuck was that? _look, to which Jake just gave him an apologetic shrug. He had done what he usually did to save his ass – he improvised.

Pasting on a pleased, yet slightly embarrassed smirk, Ezra stood and adjusted his suit jacket before turning back to Marcus and Hector. "That was….an unexpected delight. Do tell your Mr. Gabsty that I appreciate his thoughtfulness in sending me a little extra buyer's incentive." He glanced back at "Sparky" with a satisfied grin. "Now, the guns, if I may?"

Finding their feet back on familiar ground, Hector and Marcus moved quickly to set out the display cases. Hector talked Ezra through each piece while Marcus shuffled the cases around as needed. During one of his passes by Jensen he leaned over the tech and asked, "Gabsty really send you in for that?"

Jensen flushed and spoke quietly. "No, but did you see the way that guy was all over me? I just figured it'd help seal the deal, ya know? Plus, hello, look at him. Who wouldn't want _that?_"

Marcus stood straight and shook his head. "You really are full of surprises, aren't you Sparky?"

Jake smiled and tweaked up his eyebrows. "You have _no _idea."

_**L~M7~L~M7~L~M7~L~M7~L~M7**_

Sitting down on the hillside with his binoculars pressed firmly to his face, Pooch shook his head in awe. "I can't believe that actually worked."

"He knew what he was doing," Clay noted absently, lost in thought about something.

Aisha frowned. "Or he just got lucky."

Pooch laughed. "Not yet, but it looked like he was about to."

She smirked and was about to add her own comment when Clay abruptly turned to her. "That's a Team 7 agent down there; somewhere out there," he glanced up at the surrounding desert, "there'll be an ATF van. Find it."

Cougar sat up and was about to protest when Clay held up his hand. "If this Agent Larabee's doing his job he'll have Jensen lined up in your friend's crosshairs. They don't know how Jensen works, I just want to make sure no one gets an itchy trigger finger."

"He won't shoot," Cougar argued.

"You willing to bet Jensen's life on that?" Clay countered.

Cougar backed down, realizing the Colonel was right. He knew Vin, knew his friend wouldn't take that shot unless he had damn good reason to; but still… how many years had gone by since they'd gone through training together? Team 7 was Vin's new family as much as the Losers were Cougar's. If Larabee ordered him to fire, would he do it? Would Cougar fire if Clay told him to take out the undercover? It was a sobering thought.

The sniper looked up at Aisha. "Don't kill them," he told her, the warning clear in his voice.

She rolled her eyes as she turned to slink off, mumbling to herself. "Why does everyone assume I'm just going to go on some big killing spree? 'Sure, let's kill six ATF agents just because we want _more _government guys chasing our asses.' I'm not an idiot."

Clay shook his head and gave Cougar a reassuring look. "She'll behave."

"She better," the sniper snarled and went back to doing his job watching over Jensen.


End file.
